FA Cup quarter-finals preview: Preston North End v Villa, Bournemouth v Man City
Preston North End v Aston Villa
Two-time FA Cup winners, most recently in 1938, Preston North End have a proud history. But it’s fair to say they’ve had a rather quieter time of it lately.
In the here and now, the club sit 14th in the Championship league table, having won only one of their last seven league games. That was a 2-1 victory over Portsmouth last time out.
To reach Sunday’s quarter-final, the side have beaten Charlton, Wycombe Wanderers and Burnley. Clearly, Aston Villa are likely to offer a significantly greater challenge.
Still, playing at Deepdale, perhaps Paul Heckingbottom’s team can make the most of home advantage to frustrate the Premier League side.
Preston have only lost three times at home this season, and one of those defeats came against Arsenal in the League Cup. The side are unbeaten at home in their last 15 games in all competitions too. They might at least make things tricky for Unai Emery’s side.
All that said, Villa have won five of their last six games in all competitions. It’s no surprise to see that they’re heavy favourites to win this one.
The Villans haven’t lifted a trophy since they won the League Cup in 1996. They’ve won the FA Cup seven times – but the last of those triumphs came in 1957. It’s fair to say the Birmingham side are overdue.
Surely Preston won’t be the side to end Villa’s hopes of long-awaited glory. Marco Asensio could be the man to steer the visitors to the semi-finals.
The 29-year-old has seven goals in his last five appearances for Villa – despite only coming on as a substitute in two of those games. Asensio is 33/20 to score at any time on Sunday.
Bournemouth v Man City
With seven of the eight sides remaining at this stage not exactly prolific trophy winners in recent years, there’s a real chance that this year’s Cup campaign could serve up a hugely memorable outcome.
Alternatively, Manchester City could win it, which wouldn’t exactly be a novel experience. In fact, for those without a dog in this fight, it would be pretty disappointing given City’s rampant success in recent years.
Yet from Pep Guardiola’s point of view, winning this tournament is very, very important right now. Struggling in the Premier League, out of the Champions League, City are having a seriously sorry season.
Sure, the side could still win the Club World Cup in July. But before that, FA Cup glory for City could end the domestic season on a positive note, after many, many negatives in this campaign.
Yes, City should be up for this one – but that doesn’t mean Bournemouth can’t see off Guardiola and co. The Cherries won 2-1 when these two sides met in November.
More generally, Bournemouth haven’t been in sensational form in the last month or so, failing to win a game in normal time since they beat Southampton 3-1 in mid-February. Even if they haven’t been at their best though, you’d assume Andoni Iraola will be going all out to coax a killer performance from his side for this meeting at the Vitality Stadium.
And City have remained fairly haphazard themselves. Things have improved since Boxing Day, when they won one game in a nine-game streak. But since February they’ve lost 5-1 away to Arsenal, and suffered a 1-0 away defeat to Forest plus a 2-0 home loss to Liverpool.
Things still aren’t right with the Manchester side, and Bournemouth can take advantage. The hosts are 7/4 to get the job done in 90 minutes.
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